Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Monday, February 21, 2011

I am a hedonistic procrastinator, in that I will put off a ride on a cold day until it is time that I have to go or I will lose the chance to ride. On today's lovely afternoon, clear skies after noon, I waited and pissed away my time until it was 3.15 pm, at which I start putting on all the clothing involved with winter riding. It had started to snow, and my Good Spouse said to me, "You looked outside yet?"

It was in fact snowing, and then it was snowing pretty good, and there was 1/2 inch on the ground pretty quickly. I looked at the radar on Weather.com and we were under a blue patch of snow, more dark blue than the white blue I'd hoped for.

I continued dressing, protested that I'd stay off the main roads, duly noted the SOFTR (Spousal Objection For The Record), and got out in the snow. There was about 3/4 inch on the road by that time.

It was a great ride, very quiet, no traffic. Down the first valley, up the first hill which is kind of steep, and that's when the fun started - the cars couldn't make it up the hill. They kept advancing slowly, then shimmied laterally for a while while sliding backwards on the hill. Some drivers kept trying it, allowing themselves to move more sideways, and other drivers seemed to put it in Park.

My trusty bike was doing well up the hill, and I just kept pedalling, but then as I approached a car that was alternatively stopped and shimmying I got off to walk around it. Got back on the bike, climbed up the rest of the hill, rode around a few cars that were stuck on the road.

I'm not sure why they were stuck, there couldn't have been any more than one inch of snow. Perhaps they had bald tires, but there were easily 6 or 7 of them not getting up that hill.

I thought about the shimmying they were doing in their 3000 pound cages and decided that for me, today, discretion was the better half of valor. I rode down the hill, up the valley on the other side, and made it home quite easily, although I saw a few more sliding cars.

It was a great ride, very quiet as it gets in a heavy snowfall, and the bike did real well. I only logged 2 miles, but I got to climb two good hills, and it was a small adventure.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Ah, the sixties.The 19-sixties are remembered fondly by aging hippies.People in their 60's start to scare you when you're 53.Temperatures in the sixties make for wonderful bicycling.

Rode 28 miles, 65F, trail - mostly paved, some unpaved and muddy.

Rode the Eliza Furnace / Jail Trail to the Ft. Duquesne Bridge, along the Allegheny to Millvale and Washington's Landing, along the Ohio to the Penitentiary (and - why isn't that called the Other Jail Trail?), back to the Ft. Duquesne Bridge, across the Ft. Pitt bridge, the Station Square trail to Southside down to the American WaterWorks detour, back to the Hot Metal bridge to the trailhead.

Monday, February 14, 2011

The Steel Valley Trail portion of the Great Allegheny Passage is expected to be open all the way to the Homestead Waterfront by May 2011. This section of trail features the Riverton Bridge that offers an excellent view of the Monongahela River, two new bridges over the railroad tracks at Port Perry and Whitaker, close passage to Kennywood Park's Phantom's Revenge roller coaster and a trail-side view of the Braddock Locks and Dam on the Monongahela River.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

From Dave Feucht of Portlandize, we get this really excellent homemade Burberry Rain Cape--

Rain capes are the ultimate in bike geek chic; they separate the merely aspirational from the true Freds (which is the accepted name for bike geeks, worn as a badge of honor).

Here's a picture of two Paris policemen in their rain capes:

Conventional rain attire, usually a jacket with hood and pants, has a problem: if it's waterproof to the elements, it's probably something that builds up moisture inside of the clothing as you generate heat and sweat. To many cyclists, then, the choice is which kind of moisture do you want to get wet with-- do you want to get wet with the rain, or wet with your own sweat? High-end jackets and pants hope to be waterproof in the front and breathable in the back to avoid moisture buildup, but nothing is as effective as a rain cape.

The rain cape protects you from rain by providing a form-fitting umbrella. They usually have cloth thumb loops sewn into them to keep the cape in position over your hands, and they also may have a waist strap to keep the cape close to your torso.

Any moisture that collects inside of the cape blows away because of the breeze passing by the open bottom. There are, to be honest, two three problems with rain capes:

they look quite bizarre.

they are susceptible to water-from-below (ie, splashing) - the mitigation for this is a good set of fenders and shoe booties

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Temperatures will begin to rebound next week with most of the second half of February in the 40s and 50s for high temperatures instead of teens and 20s. The bigger storms will start missing us more to the north and rain will become the norm over snow.

It doesn't mean we'll be completely done with winter, but winter weather will become less of an every day thing and more of a couple of days at a time. I can't wait.

I looked at the 10-Day forecast and the high temps are 20, 30, 31, 39, 38, 36, 36, 39, 40. That is what I need.

Bikes in The Atlantic: James Fallows is on vacation, so he's lending his spot on The Atlantic's blog to a few chosen substitutes, one of whom is San Francisco bike commuter Lizzy Bennett. That has to be a great national audience for a pro-bike writer.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

On Monday I looked at the blue skies and the 30F temperature (wind chill 25), and the forecast of deteriorating conditions all week, and knew that this was The Day To Ride. I wrapped up the details of my day and at about 4:30 I started to dress, and it takes me about twenty minutes to gather and put on all those clothes, shoes, booties, balaclava, gloves, etc.

I'm out the door a little before 5 with the bike and my cellphone rings, it's an important call from a friend and I stop to take it, hanging up inadvertently a few times as my helmet straps press buttons. Finally, it's about 5:10 and I turn on my lights and start riding.

Flat front tire.

I hate that. At 5:15 there was no way to change the flat and get started before dusk, and while I'll start in daylight and finish in the dark, it just seems like another level of silliness to start riding in the dark.